If you’re one of the many League of Legends players that played with or against the newly-reworked Swain for the first time in the past few weeks and thought to yourself, “Wow, he sounds really familiar,” don’t worry—you’re not alone.
The champion is now voiced by James Faulkner, the actor himself revealed. Faulkner has starred in quite a few popular movies and television series, including the Underworld film franchise, Da Vinci’s Demons, and—perhaps most famously—HBO’s Game of Thrones as Randyll Tarly, Sam Tarly’s cold-hearted father.
His roles in both Game of Thrones and Da Vinci’s Demons are keenly similar to Swain’s new identity as a cunning, ruthless leader, set on doing whatever means necessary to ensure the survival of his reign or, in the case of Game of Thrones, his lineage. They’re so similar in fact that it’s difficult to hear Swain and not imagine Randyll Tarly walking around the Rift decimating his enemies.
Without revealing too much for those of you that haven’t seen the most recent season of Game of Thrones, we wouldn’t be surprised if the new Swain wasn’t a huge fan of Shyvana—especially when she uses her E.
This isn’t the first time Faulkner has provided voices for a popular video game, either. He was in Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2015, as well as Blades of Time and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
This is his first credited voiceover work in a game in nearly three years. Now that we’ve heard him as the new Swain, it’s hard to imagine the champion being voiced by anyone else.
